Schultz v. Schultz

In February 2005, Kenneth Dean Schultz (plaintiff) and Rhonda Rae Schultz (defendant) married. In May 2005, Rhonda gave birth to the Schultz’s daughter, Sylvia. Kenneth frequently abused Rhonda. On February 2, 2007, Kenneth was arrested after a particularly violent incident and pleaded guilty to domestic battery. Following the incident, Rhonda left the Schultz’s home in Idaho and moved to Oregon with Sylvia. Once in Oregon, Rhonda received a restraining order against Kenneth. In March 2007, Kenneth filed for divorce in an Idaho court. As part of the divorce action, the court granted Kenneth supervised visitation. Kenneth then filed a motion with the court to order Rhonda to move back to Idaho with Sylvia or, alternatively, to order Rhonda to release Sylvia into Kenneth’s custody. Rhonda opposed the motion and submitted to the court two affidavits. In the affidavits, Rhonda described Kenneth’s frequent abuse and stated that he had made no attempts to visit with Sylvia in Oregon. Kenneth presented no evidence to refute Rhonda’s allegations. The trial court then granted Kenneth’s motion on the ground that Rhonda had unilaterally moved with Sylvia to Oregon, which made it difficult for Kenneth to have visitation access. Rhonda filed a permissive appeal with the trial court. The trial court denied the permissive appeal. Rhonda then filed a motion for permissive appeal with the Idaho Supreme Court.